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Kitchenware News April 2017

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News ..............................................3 Ad Index .......................................22 www.kitchenwarenews.com A wide variety of practical items to augment the working kitchen of the everyday cook were featured at this year's International Home + Housewares Show. The show presented the same four expos as it has in the recent past, with Dine + Design moved into the North Hall. More than 2,100 exhibitors inhabited the exhibit hall to show off this year's innovations for today's home cooks. Housewares manufacturers are responding to a culture in which consumers have more choices than ever before Attractive and Applicable at IH+HS Continued on PAGE 6 Continued on PAGE 21 Continued on PAGE 3 Continued on PAGE 12 about how they'll obtain and prepare their daily food, and home cooks range from those who cook almost every day to those who use their kitchen appliances only rarely. Americans spend about 45 minutes a day shopping for their food, about an hour a day preparing their meals and cleaning up after them, and just over an hour a day eating and drinking, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, and Americans are increasingly likely to buy their food already prepared and bring it home to eat it or to buy their dinners f rom a meal kit delivery service that gives them the opportunity to cook their meals without devoting much time or effort to either shopping or ingredient preparation. Despite that, the vast majority of Americans still say that BY MICAH CHEEK Home brewing kits are becoming a popular gift for hobbyists, but marketing and selling the kits poses some unique challenges. Patrick Bridges, VP of sales and Marketing at Cooper's DIY, notes that holiday sales for the Mr. Beer kit are reflecting strong interest in the hobby. "It was a tremendous response, we experienced better sell though this year than many past years. By really identifying with the craft beer movement, I think it really resonated with consumers," says Bridges. "People do it because they can Shun Cutlery Celebrates 15th Anniversary create new beers and share. Beer is made for special occasions, holidays and birthdays. Typically, the purchaser is the foodie, they 're interested in cooking and natural ingredients." Part of the appeal of these kits is premixed ingredient sets that not only allow home brewers to make classic favorites like IPAs and stouts, but replicate award- winning and hard to find brews as well. "Many craft beers, they can't distribute outside of their state, with a commercial system that isn't always able to bring beers to where you live," says Bridges. " We took a couple gold medal winners and cloned their beers. It 's a collaboration. If you can't get it, make it." Bringing home brewing to retail spaces has presented some unexpected insights. " We sell in liquor stores and they don't do very well. People are there for instant gratification. Any kind of kit doesn't do well at liquor BY MICAH CHEEK In any business, markets shift and tastes change. Navigating these ebbs and flows is what makes a business stand the test of time. Nancy Herring, Co-O wner of Now We're Cooking in Albuquerque, New Mexico is in the process of shifting the kitchenware store's stock and style of business to suit customers' new needs. The biggest change Herring has seen is a shift away f rom cooking classes. "O ur cooking class response has really dropped off. I think they 've decided to spend their money somewhere else," says Herring. Recently, she has had more success with education groups and weight loss communities that will set aside time to come in and watch a suite of demonstrations. Working with outside organizations also takes some of the administrative work off Herring's shoulders. " They handle all the advertising and signup," she adds. Another changing factor is purchasing habits. Large single- item investments have given way to smaller purchases. "You'll hear people look at a big piece of cookware and say, ' That 's too expensive,' but then they'll buy that same amount in smaller stuff. I think people have been exercising caution for a while," says Herring. Now, a large part of Now We're Cooking's sales are smaller accessory items. "We have always maintained our integrity as a kitchen store, not a gift and kitchen store. We have some pretty things, ceramics and things, but we don't go heavy into that," Herring adds. Lots of entertaining kitchen accessories now are now on display at checkout, and some of Now We're Cooking's specific sections, like the baking area, have leaned more in that direction. "We sell a tremendous amount of cookie GENERAL NEWS n Brita Longlast Debuts 6 SMALL ELECTRICS n Nostalgia Electrics 20 THE PANTRY n Little Acre 16 STAINLESS STEEL COOKWARE n 13 THE KNIFE RACK n Boska 21 BUYER'S GUIDE n Salad Tools 19 TRADESHOW CALENDAR n Upcoming Shows 22 H o u s e w a r e s R e v i e w KITCHENWARE NEWS Now We're Cooking in Albuquerque Kitchenware Retailers Tap Into Homebrew BY GREG GONZALES In 1908, Saijiro Endo set up shop in Seki, a Japanese town with more than 800 years of blade-making traditions. Today, that shop has grown into Kai USA, a company known for introducing high- quality Japanese cutlery to the US market. This year, Shun Cutlery, the company's handcrafted Japanese kitchen knife brand, celebrates 15 years of success with new knives and sharpeners to add to its lines. "The brand has grown tremendously, to where it 's exceeded a lot of people's expectations," said Matt Matsushima, Director of Operations of the Housewares Division at Kai USA. "When you're launching into a saturated market, it's been around for a long time to grow our brand to where it 's recognized today, that's a pretty incredible feat." Innovations in Shun's products have brought new materials to cutlery manufacturing. Take, for example, the Shun Dual Core series, which are layered Damascus blades made from two premium-quality stainless steels. The process roll-forges 71 alternating micro layers of high-chromium, high-carbon VG10 and VG2 stainless steels, which is then hot forged to achieve a herringbone pattern, and the result is a stronger, sharper knife. VOLUME 23, NUMBER 4 APRIL 2017 n $7.00 THE PANTRY: STONEWALL KITCHEN SEE PAGE 16 GADGET OF THE MONTH: INGENUITEA TEAPOT SEE PAGE 22 SMALL ELECTRICS: ICE CREAM MAKER FROM ZOKU SEE PAGE 20

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